Family Movie Night
by Karyn Bowman
Blame it on Shakespeare that April is National Poetry Month, if you must.
Image from gamutplays.org
The greatest writer, ever, was born on April 23rd and for that we must remember poetry in our life during the month of April.
I know some of you might be wondering what’s the use of poetry. Most poets starve unless they can find work as college professors or Hallmark card writers.
Let me argue that poetry is like flowers, adding something to our daily lives that we didn’t even know was missing.
As an English major, I’ve read many poems. I was never able to memorize poems but a few stay in my head thanks to little musical tricks.
“Never a lender or a borrower be,
And Don’t Forget,
Stay out of Debt.”
That bit of advice comes from Polonius to Laertes in Hamlet, although I am sure no one sings it on-screen to the classical tune I do so I can remember it. There are many screen versions of Hamlet. Some may prefer the Mel Gibson version from 1990 or Lawrence Oliver’s of 1948. Kenneth Branagh did his in 1996. Then there is the irreverent adult comedy of Hamlet 2 starring Steve Coogan and Catherine Keener.
Image from IMDb.com
My second oldest reports reading Romeo and Juliet in class right now. He is having a difficult time because the language is stiff, stilted. I understand how he feels because the language can be tough. As a senior in high school, we read John Keats’ The Eve of St. Agnes in class. Our teacher could not believe how dully one of us read the section in which our heroine undresses. It came out like a laundry list of things to be done, not the disrobement that it is.
I would have my son watch the much maligned Shakespeare In Love because of how the movie displays the power of those words when they are spoken. They are not stilted but passionate language telling the story of forbidden love and heated family rivalry. Perhaps, I should get the Leonardo Di Caprio version which has a more musical flair to it.
There is one poem I love more than any other, written by e.e. cummings. This poet was known for ignoring capitalization and various other rules of poetical form. Surprising enough, at the time of his death in 1962, cummings was the second most read poet in our country. Robert Frost was the most read at that time.
Image from IMDb.com
someplace i have never traveled, gladly beyond was featured in the Woody Allen movie Hannah and Her Sisters. It is used to woo a woman by her brother-in-law and when you read the poem, it is easy to see how these words can do so. The writer talks of a love that can bring him out or shut him off from the world. He talks of a love that thrills him with its beauty and the sense of the unknown in the person he loves.
Listening to Michael Caine read these words remind me that beauty surrounds us in the everyday and finding it takes only a little effort.
Is there a poem that you remember beyond any others?
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.
I adore “Shakespeare in Love,” in part because of the marvelous way those lines come to life, plus the deliciousness of the gender swapping. I also love the complexity of the story and all the little inside jokes directed at theater folk and English majors (I fall into both categories). My son’s class watched both the classic Zeffirelli film of R & J as well as the new version with Leonardo et al. He thought it was neat to see the similarities and differences, and he said he could understand why people stage the same plays over and over again and why people would be interested in seeing different stagings of the same play. I thought the teacher was brilliant to think of it.
(If you sing Polonius’ line to the same classical tune I do — the toreador song from Carmen — I think we both got it from an episode of Gilligan’s Island!)
I am not sure if I learned it from Gilligan’s island or a classmate who did but that is exactly it. I could not remember where the tune came from originally.
I cannot hear that speech from Hamlet without thinking of the toreador song – years of Gilligan has etched it permanently into my brain that way!
I think I watched Hannah and Her Sisters with my mom many, many moons ago – might have to watch it again. Have a Great Weekend!
It has been a while since I have seen this movie but I loved it.
George Herbert: Love (III)
I just love, love, love this poem.
Fascinating post, although now I want to put on a musical in a hut for marooned film producer….Harold Hecuba. Gees, why do I remember that!?
Ok, I went and looked it up on You-Tube. I have never seen this episode before. Never. I had a college classmate sing it when we took Shakespeare and I read Hamlet for the third semester in a row. How could I have forgotten that episode when I remember the one about the lobster cage is beyond me.